Enjoy traditional Salsa Molcajete at home with our recipe. A classic way for preparing salsa using a mortar & pestle a.k.a. molcajete. Made with tomatoes, tomatillos, chili peppers, onion, garlic, and salt. All of which is cooked to add a smoky and charred flavor.
What is a Molcajete?
The molcajete is a traditional type of mortar and pestle commonly made out of basalt rock. It originated amongst mesoamerican peoples like the Olmec and Mayans well over 1000 years ago. And to this day is an important tool in many Mexican and Central American kitchens.
You can use it for all sorts of things from grinding spices, to making guacamole, and in today’s case salsa. And in my opinion, it is the key to making today’s salsa the right way. It has a rough surface that allows you to grind certain ingredients like chili de arbol and garlic into a fine paste. While the act of grinding the ingredients by hand allows you to leave some of the salsa a bit chunky. And this textural difference between smooth and chunky is what really makes salsa molcajete special.
The Ingredients for Today’s Salsa Molcajete
- Chile de Arbol – These little dried red chilies are going to add flavor and most of the heat to our salsa. So feel free to use as many as you want depending on your spice tolerance.
- Garlic – This ingredient along with the chile de arbol will form the base of the salsa, so don’t skip it!
- Salt – Obviously you can’t have salsa without the simplest ingredient, salt. It is needed for bringing out the flavor of the other ingredients, along with helping to grind the chile and garlic into a fine paste.
- Jalapeno – This ingredient provides more heat along with a fresh chili flavor. If you want to you can swap the jalapeno out with two serrano peppers. However, be warned as that will make the salsa extra spicy!
- Onion – A simple onion will provide depth and body to the salsa. You can use any type of onion you have on hand but preferably stick with either a white or brown onion.
- Tomato – Most of the body of the salsa will come from a large tomato. You can use any variety of tomatoes you can get your hands on. Just make sure it is roughly the same amount as a large beefsteak tomato.
- Tomatillo – Just like the tomato the tomatillos will make up most of the salsa. However, unlike the tomato will give the salsa a slightly citrus taste. You will need 2 to 3 of these or roughly the same amount/size as your tomato.
Tips, Tricks & Suggestions
- Can you still make this salsa without a molcajete?: Of course! It won’t have the same texture, but will still taste great. Just start by blending the chili de arbol and garlic with salt in your blender or food processor. Then add the remaining ingredients and blend/process until the salsa is chunky enough to your liking.
- Smoke alert: Make sure to have your vent running when charring up your ingredients as it will give off a bit of smoke. Or if the weather permits, place your cast iron pan/skillet over a heated grill and cook them outside.
- Storage: This salsa molcajete will last up to one week in your fridge if stored in a container. And while you can freeze this salsa I don’t recommend it as it will ruin the texture.
- Serving Suggestions: Want some dishes to try this salsa molcajete on? Then check out our recipes for Pork Stuff Hatch Chilies, Traditional Carnitas, Chicken Enchiladas, or Carne Asada Street Tacos.
Other Salsas You Might Enjoy
Salsa Molcajete Recipe
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Servings: 1½ Cups of salsa
Ingredients
1 to 5 Chiles de Arboles, depending on how spicy you want it
2 to 3 Cloves of garlic
½ Teaspoon of salt, plus more to taste
1 Jalapeno pepper
½ of a medium onion cut into quarters
2 to 3 Tomatillos
1 Large Tomato
Instructions
- Toast the Chilies de Arbol: Get out a large skillet or pan, preferably cast iron, and place it over medium-high heat. Once hot toss in the chiles de arbol and toast them for 30 seconds to 1 minute. You just want them to slightly change in color and soften up. Once they do take them out of the pan/skillet and set them aside. If you overcook them and they become blackened toss them out and try again as they will give the salsa a bitter taste.
- Cook the garlic cloves in the same pan/skillet until golden brown in color, then take them out and set them aside.
- Add the ½ teaspoon of salt to your molcajete and crush the chiles de arbol until they become fine flakes. Follow this up by crushing the garlic into the salt and chilies until it forms a paste.
- Cook the jalapeno, onion, and tomatillos: In the same hot pan/skillet add the onion, jalapeno, and tomatillos. Cook all of these ingredients until softened and they have a nice char.
And make sure to err on the side of over-charring them instead of under-charring them as it will give the salsa a great smoky flavor and deep dark color. Once they are all cooked take them out of the pan/skillet and set them aside.
- Add the jalapeno, onion, and tomatillos to the salsa: Remove the top stem of the cooked jalapeno and discard it. Also, feel free to remove some or all of the seeds from the jalapeno if you prefer your sala to be less spicy. Toss the jalapeno into the molcajete and crush it until broken down into small pieces. Next, add the tomatillos and crush them until they become smooth. Finally, dice the cooked onion and add it to the molcajete. You can try crushing the onion a bit, but I find it doesn’t work very well, which is why we dice it up before adding it to the salsa.
- Cook the tomato: The last ingredient we need to cook is the tomato. And while you can cook it in your pan/skillet I find that as the skin charrs it often peels off and gets stuck to the pan/skillet. Which is a mess to clean up. So instead I prefer to boil the tomato in a small pot.
Either method is fine, you just need to cook the tomato until it is soft and the skin can be easily peeled off and discarded (roughly 10 to 15 minutes).
- Finish the salsa by adding the cooked skinless tomato to your molcajete, and crush it until it is a consistency that you like. Finally taste the salsa and add additional salt to your personal preference.
- Use your salsa molcajete as you like and enjoy!
Salsa Molcajete Recipe
Servings: 2 cups of salsa
Ingredients
- 1 to 5 Chiles de Arboles depending on how spicy you want it
- 2 to 3 Cloves of garlic
- ½ Teaspoon of salt plus more to taste
- 1 Jalapeno pepper
- ½ of a medium onion cut into quarters
- 2 to 3 Tomatillos
- 1 Large Tomato
Instructions
- Toast the Chilies de Arbol: Get out a large skillet or pan, preferably cast iron, and place it over medium-high heat. Once hot toss in the chiles de arbol and toast them for 30 seconds to 1 minute. You just want them to slightly change in color and soften up. Once they do take them out of the pan/skillet and set them aside. If you overcook them and they become blackened toss them out and try again as they will give the salsa a bitter taste.
- Cook the garlic cloves in the same pan/skillet until golden brown in color, then take them out and set them aside.
- Add the ½ teaspoon of salt to your molcajete and crush the chiles de arbol until they become fine flakes. Follow this up by crushing the garlic into the salt and chilies until it forms a paste.
- Cook the jalapeno, onion, and tomatillos: In the same hot pan/skillet add the onion, jalapeno, and tomatillos. Cook all of these ingredients until softened and they have a nice char. And make sure to err on the side of over-charring them instead of under-charring them as it will give the salsa a great smoky flavor and deep dark color. Once they are all cooked take them out of the pan/skillet and set them aside.
- Add the jalapeno, onion, and tomatillos to the salsa: Remove the top stem of the cooked jalapeno and discard it. Also, feel free to remove some or all of the seeds from the jalapeno if you prefer your sala to be less spicy. Toss the jalapeno into the molcajete and crush it until broken down into small pieces. Next, add the tomatillos and crush them until they become smooth. Finally, dice the cooked onion and add it to the molcajete. You can try crushing the onion a bit, but I find it doesn’t work very well, which is why we dice it up before adding it to the salsa.
- Cook the tomato: The last ingredient we need to cook is the tomato. And while you can cook it in your pan/skillet I find that as the skin charrs it often peels off and gets stuck to the pan/skillet. Which is a mess to clean up. So instead I prefer to boil the tomato in a small pot. Either method is fine, you just need to cook the tomato until it is soft and the skin can be easily peeled off and discarded (roughly 10 to 15 minutes).
- Finish the salsa by adding the cooked skinless tomato to your molcajete, and crush it until it is a consistency that you like. Finally taste the salsa and add additional salt to your personal preference.
- Use your salsa molcajete as you like and enjoy!
